Libby Cathey是美国广播公司新闻活动的七名记者之一，他们在11月中期选举之前深入到了战场州。
凯茜总部位于亚利桑那州。下面，她回顾了最后几天的旅程。
更多凯茜与embed团队和主播乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯的合作，请访问Hulu的“权力之旅:寻求权力的人和追逐权力的人。"
中期竞选的最后一周，主要的政治明星力量出现在包括亚利桑那州在内的摇摆州。
民主党和共和党候选人都拿出了大牌人物——从前总统巴拉克·奥巴马(Barack Obama)到特朗普的前白宫顾问史蒂夫·班农(Steve Ballmer)——在最后一场势均力敌的比赛中争夺每一张选票，这场比赛将决定国会的控制权和总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)推进其立法目标的能力。
“亚利桑那州下周二将与命运会合，”班农在11月1日在钱德勒与共和党州长候选人卡利·莱克举行的集会上告诉数百人。
一天后，奥巴马警告南凤凰城的数百人，“我们所知道的民主，可能无法在亚利桑那州生存。”
对我来说，这一周是对我运用新闻判断力的一次考验，也是对我在那些视我为敌人的人面前工作时保持勇气的一次考验。
Campaign embed Libby Cathey speaks to voters at a Bernie Sanders rally in McAllen, Texas, Oct. 30, 2022.
美国广播公司新闻
随着候选人加快他们的日程安排——“直到选举日之前不睡觉，”正如我的同事embed Paulina Tam在最近一集“权力之旅:那些寻求权力的人和那些追逐他们的人”中所说的那样——我们被迫做出艰难的选择，特别是在最后几天，因为我们不能同时出现在两个地方。尽管我们努力!
有时，我会在一个候选人的圆桌会议上直播另一个候选人的集会。(我学会了一个跟上潜在头条新闻的技巧，那就是为我报道的所有候选人以及像我一样疲于奔命的其他记者打开Twitter通知。)
上周末不得不做出艰难的削减，我决定周日前往图森，这是我离开亚利桑那州之前第四次也可能是最后一次访问这座城市的机会，去报道民主党州长候选人凯蒂·霍布斯(Katie Hobbs)与老年人的集会。我在前一天晚上报道了共和党全州候选人的集会，所以我尽我所能分配我的时间，关注新闻。
但在周日早上，当我打包行李从凤凰城开车离开时，我在NBC的新朋友沃恩·希利亚德爆料(我是通过Twitter上的通知得知的)，霍布斯的对手莱克的一名工作人员打开了含有可疑白色物质的邮件，促使联邦调查局、危险材料小组和拆弹小组在选举前两天关闭了她的竞选办公室。
我打开Twitter，看到马里科帕县记录员斯蒂芬·里奇(Stephen Richer)呼吁公众“做得更好”,他是一名共和党人，在2020年大选后自己也面临数十次威胁。这是不对的。”凤凰城警方周日晚些时候表示，没有人员受伤的报道，但调查仍在进行中。
我回想起两周前，霍布斯闯入了她的竞选办公室，并在一份声明中谴责了莱克在确认盗窃案时的言辞。莱克称之为“朱西·斯莫利特第二部”——指的是一名演员因假装袭击自己而被定罪——并抨击霍布斯在莱克的竞选团队没有参与的情况下似乎将她的名字与入室盗窃联系在一起。
亚利桑那州居民也报告说，在对某些类型的投票持怀疑态度的文化氛围中，他们在投票时会受到审查。据我的同事阿里·杜卡基斯(Ali Dukakis)周一报道，据发言人索菲亚·索利斯(Sophia Solis)说，迄今为止，国务卿办公室已向司法部提交了18起涉嫌恐吓投票箱的投诉。
阿里和我之前报道过，一些选举投诉描述了一些人在选民交回选票时拍摄和拍照，在某些情况下，还拍下了选民的车牌。一份报告描述了穿着“迷彩服”的人。
这是一个紧张的时刻，任何恐惧或恐吓的感觉都不是没有根据的。我也感觉到了。
不到10天前，众议院议长南希·佩洛西的丈夫在家中遭到袭击并受重伤。旧金山警方表示，袭击不是随机的，两名消息人士此前告诉ABC新闻，嫌疑人喊道，“南希在哪里?”
马克·凯利的妻子、前众议员加贝·吉福兹(Gabby Giffords)在2011年图森的一次暗杀企图和大规模枪击中幸存下来，他称这是一种政治暴力行为。
“这是一个可怕的情况，”凯利在一次拉票活动后告诉我。“在美国没有个人攻击或试图攻击国会议员或任何公职人员的地方。人们正在努力做好自己的工作。”
莱克在上周的一次竞选活动中，当谈到让孩子们在学校里保持安全时，他随口评论说，“显然”佩洛西的“房子没有太多保护。”民主党人和莱克批评者谴责这种语言，但莱克告诉我，她没有轻视这次攻击。
“我可以对自己负责，”她在一群记者面前说。“我不能对别人负责。”
“清算日”
莱克与前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)支持的一系列共和党提名人一起竞选，这些人否认2020年大选的有效性——马克·芬奇姆(Mark Finchem)、亚伯·哈马德(Abe Hamadeh)和布莱克·马斯特斯。
在过去的三个月里，我观察了他们的竞选阵容，特别是竞选该州最高执法官员的哈马德，倾向于攻击媒体。
“他们声称自己是民主的守护者。他们是民主的最大威胁，”哈马德周四在斯科茨代尔说。"他们的权力和影响力正在减弱，11月8日将是他们的清算日!"
这条线促使许多人站了起来，至少有一个年长的男人转过身来，开始给我拍照，我是当晚新闻热线上为数不多的女性之一(也是唯一一个没有相机的人，因为我是我们所说的“一个人的乐队”)。我感到很不舒服，但我必须继续做我的工作。
三天前的晚上，在斯科茨代尔与其他共和党候选人的集会上，哈马德发表了类似的声明。
“他们声称自己是民主的捍卫者。他们是民主党的宣传部门，”他在欢呼声和歌声中说道，发誓要在新闻编辑室和法庭上与我们“斗争”。
那天晚上，我们在户外一个公共的露天场所。我记得我在想，“总有一天我们中的一个会被枪杀。”
在那次事件之后，一名集会参与者来到新闻别针前，称我们为“假新闻”，这是特朗普在2016年竞选期间推广的一个标签。当一名记者在酒吧向他挑战时，很快就变成了一场大喊大叫的比赛，两个人的脸相距只有几英寸。
在莱克和记者们闲聊之后，我收拾行李离开了。但是要摆脱我的所见所闻并不容易。
我只能希望它变得更好。
Midterm campaigns' final days see political star power and violence: Reporter's notebook
Libby Cathey is one of seven ABC News campaign reporters embedded in battleground states ahead of the November midterms.
Cathey is based in Arizona. Below, she recaps the closing days on the trail.
See more of Cathey's work with the embed team and anchor George Stephanopoulos on Hulu's "Power Trip: Those Who Seek Power and Those Who Chase Them."
The final week on the midterm campaign trail saw major political star power in swing states including Arizona.
Both Democratic and Republican candidates brought out big names -- from former President Barack Obama to former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon -- to wring out every single vote in the final stretch of razor-thin races which will determine the control of Congress and President Joe Biden's ability to further his legislative goals.
"Arizona has a rendezvous with destiny next Tuesday," Bannon told hundreds at a Nov. 1 rally in Chandler with GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake.
A day later, Obama warned hundreds more in South Phoenix, "Democracy, as we know it, may not survive in Arizona."
For me, this week was a test in using my news judgment -- and maintaining bravery while doing my job in front of some who cast me as the enemy.
With candidates ramping up their schedules -- "no sleep until Election Day," as my fellow embed Paulina Tam put it on a recent episode of "Power Trip: Those Who Seek Power and Those Who Chase Them" -- we are forced to make tough choices, especially in the final days, because we can't be in two places at once. Although we try!
Sometimes, I'll livestream one candidate's rally while at a roundtable for another. (One trick I've learned to keep up with potential headlines is to turn on Twitter notifications for all of the candidates I'm covering and for other reporters on the trail who are juggling just like me.)
Having to make tough cuts last weekend, I decided to travel to Tucson on Sunday, my fourth and likely last chance to visit the city before I leave my Arizona assignment, to cover a rally with senior citizens for Katie Hobbs, the Democratic nominee for governor. I covered a rally with the GOP statewide slate the night before, so I'm doing my best to divide my time and follow the news.
But on Sunday morning, as I was packing up to drive from Phoenix, my new friend Vaughn Hilliard at NBC broke news (which I caught via those Twitter notifications) that a staffer for Hobbs' opponent, Lake, had opened mail containing a suspicious white substance, prompting the FBI, a hazardous materials crew and a bomb squad to shut down her campaign office two days before the election.
I opened Twitter to see Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican who has faced dozens of threats himself after the 2020 election, calling on the public to "DO BETTER. THIS IS WRONG." Phoenix police said later Sunday that there had been no reported injuries but the investigation was ongoing.
I thought back to two weeks earlier, when Hobbs had a break-in at her campaign office and condemned Lake’s rhetoric in a statement when confirming the burglary. Lake called it “Jussie Smollett Part Two" -- referring to an actor who was convicted of faking an attack on himself -- and blasted Hobbs for appearing to tie her name to the break-in when Lake's campaign had no involvement.
Arizona residents have also reported being under scrutiny when casting their ballots amid a culture of suspicion about certain kinds of voting. As my colleague Ali Dukakis reported on Monday, a total of 18 complaints related to alleged intimidation at ballot drop box locations have so far been referred to the Justice Department by the state Secretary of State’s office, according to spokesperson Sophia Solis.
Ali and I previously reported that some of those election complaints described individuals filming and photographing voters as they returned their ballots and, in some cases, taking photographs of the voters' license plates. One report described individuals dressed in "camo-clad gear."
It's a tense time, and any feelings of fear or intimidation here are not unfounded. I feel them, too.
Not even 10 days ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband was attacked and seriously injured in his home. San Francisco police said the assault wasn’t random and two sources previously told ABC News that the suspect had shouted, “Where’s Nancy?”
Sen. Mark Kelly -- whose wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, survived an assassination attempt and mass shooting in Tucson in 2011 -- called it an act of political violence.
"It's a horrible situation," Kelly told me after a canvassing event. "There's no place in the United States of America for individuals to be attacking or attempting to attack members of Congress or anybody who serves in public office. Folks are trying to do their job."
Lake, at a campaign event last week, when talking about keeping children safe in schools, made an offhand comment that "apparently" Pelosi's "house doesn’t have a lot of protection." Democrats and Lake critics condemned the language, but Lake told me she didn’t make light of the attack.
"I can be responsible for myself," she said at a gaggle, or gathering, of reporters. "I can't be responsible for others."
'Day of reckoning'
Lake is running with a slate of Republican nominees endorsed by former President Donald Trump who deny the validity of the 2020 election -- Mark Finchem, Abe Hamadeh and Blake Masters.
I've watched the lineup develop their stump speeches over the past three months, with Hamadeh, who is running to be the state's top law enforcement officer, in particular leaning into attack lines on the press.
"They claim they are guardians of democracy. They're the biggest threat to democracy," Hamadeh said Thursday in Scottsdale. "Their power and influence is waning, and Nov. 8 will be their day of reckoning!"
That line prompted many to their feet, and at least one older man turned around and started taking photos of me, one of the few women (and the only one without a camera person, since I'm what we call a "one-man band") on the press line that night. I felt very uncomfortable, but I had to continue doing my job.
Three nights earlier, at a rally with the other GOP candidates in Scottsdale, Hamadeh delivered similar statements.
"They're claiming that they're guardians of democracy. They're the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party," he said to cheers and chants, vowing to "fight" us in the newsroom and courtroom.
That night, we were outdoors in a public, open-air space. I remember thinking, "One of us is going to get shot one day."
After that event, a rally attendee came over to the press pin to call us "fake news," a label that was popularized by Trump during the 2016 campaign. When a reporter in the pin challenged him, it soon turned into a shouting match, with the two men inches from one another's face.
After Lake gaggled with reporters, I packed up and left. But it wasn't so easy to shake what I'd seen and heard.
I can only hope it gets better.
"Power Trip: Those Who Seek Power and Those Who Chase Them" is available now on Hulu.
